System increases efficiency and improves service for rural Manitoba Hydro customers
Manitoba Hydro has completed rolling out the utility’s new Mobile Workforce management system, revolutionizing how the province’s energy supplier coordinates its fieldwork. For customers, the result is faster, more efficient responses to service calls.
“It has really improved how we keep track of our work and dispatch our personnel,” said Bruce Plaisier, manager of customer service operations for Manitoba Hydro in Westman. “It’s streamlined the system, meaning there’s less paperwork for our staff, and made our planning and scheduling of work more efficient, while helping to minimize travel times for our staff. The system also automatically matches work requests with staff work experience and skills, which also helps scheduling.”
The new system links computers installed in Manitoba Hydro trucks back through a centralized server to dispatch offices in Brandon, Selkirk and Winnipeg. The server also links to local Customer Service Centres and other offices where staff are based, allowing for more efficient and rapid allocation of manpower and other resources. The new system focuses on priority work province-wide, and helps customer service personnel plan for seasonal demands, such as no heat calls in winter and locating underground services in summer.
“We receive thousands of work requests for short duration jobs and it was tedious and labour intensive to track and assign this work, as well as get the information entered into our computer systems after the job was done,” explained Plaisier. “The Mobile Workforce Management system excels at keeping track of these jobs and fitting them into a person’s day. We are ahead of schedule on our meter retest program and have virtually eliminated the backlog of older service orders. We’ve also been able to maintain the same short turnaround on underground service locates with existing staff, despite a 10% increase in requests over last year. Finally, we are using the system to assign ‘quick hit’ maintenance work, which will help reduce outages and enhance system reliability.”
“This also helps our field personnel in terms of providing them with more information on each job they go to than was possible under our previous, paper-based system,” explained Darryl Buhr, manager of customer service operations in Winnipeg, where the system has been up and running for about 12 months.
“More detail is included on each assignment, which is communicated directly to them in their vehicles. And once a job is done, they can fill in the completion form right in their trucks. Nothing gets missed, because the electronic form prompts them for all the required information. This gets sent back to the dispatch centre automatically, where the completion is filed electronically without further input from office staff – a real time saver,” said Buhr.
“It’s allowing us to respond to customer requests more quickly and efficiently, particularly in rural areas where distances between calls can be much greater,” added Plaisier. “Being able to dispatch the closest staff with the most closely matched skill set to the job at hand helps us improve our already high level of customer service, and makes things easier on our staff at the same time.”
“The system also enhances safety for Manitoba Hydro staff, as dispatchers now have real-time information on the location of field staff, making it much easier to send help if it’s needed,” said Buhr.
The system also provides staff with the most up-to-date digital maps so they have the best information to troubleshoot outages more safely and quickly. This is even more important after large storms when the utility may bring in staff from other parts of the province to help restore power in affected areas.
By the end of 2013, over 680 Manitoba Hydro field staff will have been fully trained on the Mobile Workforce Management system.
“By bringing a system like this on-line, Manitoba Hydro continues to be a leader in technology, industry innovation and customer service,” said Plaisier. “As we operate and use the system, we keep seeing more and more possibilities on how we can improve our work processes. We are really excited about how this system is bringing benefits to both our employees and our customers.”
